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Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson with President Obama
They argued that it was necessary for cuts in “entitlements” to be part of any deficit package. “Entitlements” is the preferred euphemism for Social Security and Medicare for people who want to cut Social Security and Medicare.
It is once again interesting to note that in a call for shared sacrifice, Bowles and Simpson once again never mention the possibility of financial speculation tax (FST), which could raise over $1.5 trillion over the course of the next decade. Such a tax has been used in the UK for centuries and a proposal for such a tax has recently been put forward by the European Commission. It is remarkable that the elite political figures in the United States show so little interest in an FST.
The Bowles-Simpson piece also includes a bizarre criticism of President Obama’s deficit reduction proposal complaining that:
“while it does (barely) stabilize the debt, it does so at a dangerously high level and with no margin for error.”
Since Congress approves budgets every single year, and often makes major budget adjustments between budgets, it is not clear why Bowles and Simpson think they mean by “with no margin for error.” If a budget plan approved by the current Congress fails to meet deficit targets for budgets 8-10 years in the future, Congress will have plenty of time to make whatever adjustments it views as necessary.
Of course as every budget analyst knows, the whole long-term budget problem is the result of our broken health care system. If the United States paid a comparable amount per person for its health care as people do in any other wealthy country, we would be looking at huge surpluses, not deficit. This point is rarely mentioned by Bowles and Simpson.
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Occupy Wall Street might want to add a few more sign defending Social Security and Medicare. Seniors might have a little free time to join them.
Inhuman vultures. They’ll never have enough money.
Vultures serve a useful purpose.
Wall Street does not.
Can’t cut medicare and SS without cutting benefits to lawmakers and military and raising length of service and age to collect for them as well.
Asshole.
Everytime I see that pic above, I always think of Obama saying “hey, I hate Social Security as much as you guys. I love you guys. I agree with everything you say. You guys are so brave and awesome. Together, we will destroy Social Security and Medicare, just give me time.”
They have already cut military pensions, and are about to cut Tricare, the health care plan for active duty military, veterans, and their families. As for lawmakers, most of them are millionaires and they don’t care.
“Of course as every budget analyst knows, the whole long-term budget problem is the result of our broken health care system.”
An even more fundamental cause of the budget/debt problem is our privatized, debt-based currency (Federal Reserve notes). With sovereign, debt-free Treasury notes we could fund single payer health care and abolish national debt forever. Of course the banksters would be unhappy and that’s a more important consideration.
http://my.firedoglake.com/gammaglobalist/2011/10/02/what-the-banksters-dont-want-you-to-know/
can anyone in washington say: raise the estate tax?
It is lower than it has ever been in our history.
If they dont feel that estates under $5 million should be taxed, how about a 30, 50, 90 tax on estates from 6 million to 8 million to 10 million?
So two fat ass welfare recipients are looking for cuts to the programs that the little people have already actually paid for.. aka.. looters.
They need to suffer the consequences that capitalism provides for taking risks and losing. They aren’t savvy businesspersons, they are parasites that need to be removed from the body politic.
I guess Pete Peterson is getting worried that his dream of taking our retirment money for his own greed might not happen fast enough. His two bag men Simpleton and Bozo need to earn their keep…
It is note worthy that the solutions for debt issue with MEdicare does not include lifting the cap or cutting out Insurance/Big Pharm’s grip on costs.. I suppose Grover will opening his big mouth soon too! I know Ryan is back blowing smoke again
I noticed Eric and Ann are not allowed to discuss the truth about SS Medicare and Medicaid..thanks Dean for the article and keep up the pressure!
Look. I am 100% certain that Obama, Congress, Bowles, Simpson, and the whole rotten bunch of millionaires have one mission for the US. To destroy the New Deal.
Obama and the kabuki Congress will “reform” it by bankrupting it first, then funneling future monies through the Wall St. toll booth. They must get a piece of all of us and Obama’s their man. ignoringHe’s a masterful con to anyone who believes what he says without understanding his actions. Shared sacrifice my ass.
The US is never short on cash when they want something.
Hell, military contracts are handed out like candy with little to no oversight. The costs of endless multiple wars, secret gulags, covert wars, and military bases popping up all over the planet aren’t even debated anymore. Or the massive costs of DHS whose mission is spying on us; our financial transactions, phone calls, and emails. We are never asked if we wanna continue to subsidize corporate outsourcing or their research and development. Then, they force ys to back up all their losses no matter the circumstance including fraud and criminal behavior, while the CEO’s and upper management continue to reap massive profits. Bullshit.
So when any of the usual blowhards start talking about the debt and how “entitlements must be cut” it’s just another lying sociopath drunk with power who must be ignored.
Of course “cutting” Medicare could be mean cutting the outrageous per capita costs of US healtcare. But that would mean confronting providers, pharma, etc. (= campaign contributors). So instead, we’ll just cut benefits, a la Bowles.
Whore.
When I see that “D” beside the name of that elitist, it makes me want to tear my (thinning, graying) hair that I wasted so many decades voting for the party that is going to help screw me in my senior years.
The time to talk about “entitlement reform” is after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are wound down and the Bush tax cuts on the rich are abolished. Not a moment sooner.
“The US is never short on cash when they want something.”
I think the model in these guys heads goes something like this. The United States is on a collision course with China because there can only be one big boy on the block, and the US will never let anyone else be that big boy. It’s going to cost a lot of money to do to them what we did to the Russians, and the money has to come from somewhere. Hence the raid on ‘entitlements.’
Since these guys are already rich, and nothing they do is going to fill their pockets in what’s left of their lives, this so-called strategic reason is the only one that makes sense to me. Of course, they can’t put it to the public, who would much prefer having jobs to fighting a war in Asia, just like the Germans in the spring of 1941, who much preferred jobs than fighting a land war with Russia.
This is the rotten core of the military state.
They are not going to leave the safety net alone. Hopefully the revolution will get bigger and these asshole fat cats will be eating their words. If Oilbummer thinks for a moment anyone will support cuts in SS and Medicare is sorely mistaken.
Given Obama’s campaign funding needs and Bowles position on Wall St, is Bowles’ timing meant to sway the Super-Morons or the President – or both?
Yeah, I’ll bet that’s exactly what he’s saying. Look at him. He thinks these guys are his pals. He doesn’t realize they’re just humoring him because his race continues to pull the wool over too many liberals’ eyes, fooling them into thinking he’s a liberal. As soon as he’s out of office, it’s heave ho for O as far Bowles, etc. are concerned. Probably in their heart of hearts they’re as racist as anyone.
Listen and weep…
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29282.htm
So now the corporatists are publicly giving Obama his marching orders. How in our face is that?
The Fed is not a privatized entity, although it has some private components. See especially the last paragraph below (from Wikipedia). The Fed answers to the President and Congress. There is this meme out there that the Fed is privately owned but this simply is not true.
Our currency is not a privatized debt-based currency but, as a fiat currency, is freely created by the US gov’t at will. The gov’t doesn’t even have to tax to raise money. As Alan Greenspan said, to deal with the deficit, all we have to do is create more money. There is zero essential difference between Treasury notes and dollars. All consist of nothing more or less than numbers in the spreadsheet that is the Federal Reserve.
When someone buys a T note, his/her bank’s reserve account (like a checking account) at the Fed is debited, his/her own checking account reflects this, and another account at Treasury, in effect a savings account, is credited by the same amount. When the T note comes due, the opposite process occurs and the buyer’s checking account receives the amount originally paid to Treasury plus interest.
For more on all this, go to http://moslereconomics.com/
“The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally as the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created in 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907.[2][3][4] Over time, the roles and responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System have expanded and its structure has evolved.[3][5] Events such as the Great Depression were major factors leading to changes in the system.[6] Its duties today, according to official Federal Reserve documentation, are to conduct the nation’s monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain the stability of the financial system and provide financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions.[7]
The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) was created December 23, 1913. It consists of seven members of the Board of Governors and divides the country into twelve districts with a Reserve Bank for each district. The job of this bureaucracy is to maintain employment, keep prices stable, and keep interest rates low by regulating monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Board also supervises banks, provides financial services, and researches the United States economy and the economies in the surrounding region.
The Federal Reserve System’s structure is composed of the presidentially appointed Board of Governors (or Federal Reserve Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation, numerous privately owned U.S. member banks and various advisory councils.[8][9][10] The FOMC is the committee responsible for setting monetary policy and consists of all seven members of the Board of Governors and the twelve regional bank presidents, though only five bank presidents vote at any given time. The Federal Reserve System has both private and public components, and was designed to serve the interests of both the general public and private bankers. The result is a structure that is considered unique among central banks. It is also unusual in that an entity outside of the central bank, namely the United States Department of the Treasury, creates the currency used.[11]
According to the Board of Governors, the Federal Reserve is independent within government in that “its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government.” However, its authority is derived from the U.S. Congress and is subject to congressional oversight. Additionally, the members of the Board of Governors, including its chairman and vice-chairman, are chosen by the President and confirmed by Congress. The government also exercises some control over the Federal Reserve by appointing and setting the salaries of the system’s highest-level employees. Thus the Federal Reserve has both private and public aspects.[12][13][14][15] The U.S. Government receives all of the system’s annual profits, after a statutory dividend of 6% on member banks’ capital investment is paid, and an account surplus is maintained. In 2010, the Federal Reserve made a profit of $82 billion and transferred $79 billion to the U.S. Treasury.[16]”
FUCK ALL These BARA¢KETEER$!
All ecosystems need scavengers. Please stop insulting vultures.
Parasites though are universally malign.
Game, set and match to Ms Mason.
Not universally malign. Just usually malign.
The Fed is a public-private hybrid, owned by shareholders which are private banks. These shareholders receive statutory dividend payments on money created by fiat. So it may not be a typical private corporation but the end result is that the government has to borrow money when it should be able to issue money. Borrowing equals debt. For further clarification see this article by Ellen Brown:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10489
This is my voting issue for sure. I cannot get a commitment to maintain Social Security and Medicare out of the D’s who pretend to represent me and they will get no vote from me without one. I am not going to vote for the Democratic Party only to find out they’re going to let amoral elitist plutocrats like Bowles write policy.
Democrats — are you with me or against me? I want to know and I really want to know why I can’t get an answer.
I used to think that if a Republican wins in 2012, then at least the Democrats in Congress would start fighting to save Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. But obviously, Repub or Dem, we are screwed, because they work for the same bosses.
On the other hand, if we vote strategically in the Republican primary for the only non-corporate candidate, Ron Paul, we might throw some sand in the gears of the machine that is grinding up our future.
Ron Paul is bad on Medicare, etc., just like Obama and the other Dems. But Ron Paul is the only Repub/Dem candidate who is against the wars, the NAFTA-type trade treaties, corporate control of government, the rigged economic system, and the War on Drugs.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who actually supports the U.S. Constitution, and Ron Paul is the only candidate who has been speaking out against extrajudicial assassination, imperialism, secret arrests, secret prisons, rendition, torture.
Here are Ron Paul and Glenn Greenwald speaking out against the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/ron-paul-on-awlaki-killing-sad-precedent/
At a recent Republican candidates’ debate, Ron Paul spoke out against U.S. imperialism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8S3yws_88I
Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Bernie Sanders like Ron Paul. Maybe we should get a clue.
Some more reading:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/04/28/is-ron-paul-more-progressive-than-obama/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/08/24/in-praise-of-ron-paul/
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/black-democrats-go-israel-ron-paul-puts-democrats-shame
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8S8N2OG7sU – Ron Paul on ending the War on Drugs
Ron Paul and Ralph Nader — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwIZ4syCFLc
Ralph Nader on the new political dynamic of an alliance between Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul on cutting the military budget and corporate welfare –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE4-nmR3fiM
REPLY
And here are Nader, Ron Paul, Kucinich, Noam Chomsky, about Occupy Wall Street
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xrSR552IXA
They will not rest until we, the 99%-ers, are forced to live in the streets. Checking later today to see if there are any weekend deals going on Fancy Feast cat food.
She is an ignoramus that thinks she’s a genius.
I’m getting a little pissed of hearing the word “entitlement” tossed around by these fat ass pigs. The word is “benefits”, as in when you pay into an insurance or pension plan your whole working life, it pays back “benefits.”
Hell, Social Security and Medicare both use the word “benefits” when describing their plans, so where the hell did these born-rich sub-humans come up with “entitlements.”
Through engineered financial bubbles, these criminals have raided our 401k accounts and our home equity. They’ve sent our good paying jobs wherever they could to pad their own pockets. Now they are coming after our only remaining asset of value: our insurance and pension BENEFITS we paid for. Simple as that. Welcome to the KLEPTOCRACY.
Occupy Wall Street, Occupy DC, Occupy the whole fucking country until we bring these bastards down.
No, Mr. Bowles.
Option 1: Rich people get less rich and contribute to the general welfare, or are stripped of all resources and deported to Saudi Arabia.
Option 2: There is no Option 2, so fuck you, asshole.
And who is actually surprised?
Obama choose Bowles precisely because the Big O wants to hurt Social Security. No news here – time to move on.
I wonder if Barry is starting to realize that appointing this Dynamic Duo and all his other betrayals have destroyed his base, and are going to prevent him from getting re-elected.
Or, is he still on scrip, which might be: destroy your base, limp into a general election, lose, take down the Dem majority in the Senate with you, and let our fascist republican boy slither into the white house. Mission complete.
Talk about lost opportunities, look at what’s happening in other countries which have invested in real, usefully, tangible infrastructure rather than bailing out crooks with trillions of our tax dollars:
Utilities Giving Away Electricity as Wind, Sun Overwhelm European Network: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/utilities-giving-away-power-as-wind-sun-flood-european-grid.html
The power utilities are PAYING customers to USE POWER.
Our country is falling into a shambles and instead of doing anything real, we’re bailing out the bastards that screwed us, and crashed the whole world economy.
It’s pretty sickening.
Big cuts in wasteful spending would be achieved by dropping Bowles and his co-leader, Alan, from The Simpson’s committee, a teevee comedy. Their main job seems to be providing free tickets to the finacial and military sectors for the eat-all-you-want government funded smorgasboard.
In related news Obama’s former Pakistani diplomat showed more of Obama’s thugocracy, though at least this time nobody was shot and killed:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/cia-contractor-freed-from-pakistan-after-us-paid-234m-faces-charges-in-parking-spot-fight/2011/10/01/gIQA9YY4DL_story.html
The Dems have spoken and you haven’t been listening.
Over the last four decades US productivity has doubled and wages have fallen by 7% (whereas wages should have doubled also).
Not a peep out of the Democrats (except in 2006 when Pelosi upped the minimum wage to 70% of it’s value in 1970).
Until liberals show the Dems that they will not vote for them, Dems will consider liberals as captive with nowhere to go.
Vote Republican!
You can throw the fake Dems out and hasten the Revolution.
You have more in common with the Tea Party than you realize.
I was researching BofA stock for my investment clubs. One of the things I looked up was major institutional investors. Among the major institutions holding BofA stock was Morgan Stanley and they hold a big wad of it. Is it any wonder that BofA gets free money from the Fed and its bad debt bought up by the taxpayers?
If we want to keep Erskine and his friends living in high style, the rest of us just better be prepared for serious shared sacrifice.
FIRST Party Like You’re In LABOR ( YOU ARE!)!
Inappropriate comment.
Appropriate comment!
The anti-SS spinmeisters chose ‘entitlements’ because they could repeat it and make it sound like something that is given to people who have not contributed to it. When they speak of ‘shared sacrifice,’ they mean shared among the 99%, not to include the 1% because they are the ‘leaders.’
I have read that obumble checks the internet every morning to see what people are saying about him and he is getting upset because so many nasty things are being said by his ‘base:’ progressive bloggers. People have said that he is very depressed. I’m not linking, I’m just mentioning somethings that I’ve read. Much of this is on What Really Happened, so take it for what you think it is worth.
As I think I may have written here before, I spoke with ex-Senator Simpson once. I was working in the telefundraising office that was my last (hellish) job, and in addition to becoming an accessory to murder by raising funds to elect Barack Horseshit Obama, I also raised money for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Nature Conservancy and other worthwhile causes. Senator Simpson was in the database, having given to one of those two (I can’t recall which), and his name popped up on my call screen one day.
He renewed his membership (although I don’t think he did the monthly sustainer) and was quite friendly, charming, intelligent, and witty. It’s a pity he also happens to be Satanically Evil. (Perhaps he’s the Anti-Christ? I’ve never been a Christian, so I don’t know the exact description, I’m afraid.) I don’t know about Bowles, though; perhaps he’s just a straight-up asshole? It would seem to “balance the ticket” nicely.
Dean, thanks for the post. Although, at the risk of becoming repetitious, I still think every post on the deficit “crisis” should include the simplest solution possible; Print Some More Fucking Money. These assholes (definitely including Obama here) are always saying that government has to balance its books like a family should (somehow ignoring the families who have mortgages and car loans and student loans, but whatever)…well, if the average American family had the legal means to pay their debts by running off some hot fresh C-notes on their basement printing press, I’m pretty sure that 100% of those families would be printing some fucking money. Print Some More Fucking Money. Period.
Obama depressed? Let’s hope so, because that might mean he’s less of an inhumane monster than he has appeared to be since he was elected.
Obama is way overdue for lots of heavy duty remorse and repentance. He should call up the Rev. Jonathan Wright and ask for his help in getting straight with all the millions of people he has betrayed and ruined, and with the God he supposedly worships.
We saved in the safest investment in the world in a common pool and it is guaranteed by the constitution to be honored always. These are not entitlements.
Now lets get the real entitlements which happened starting couple of years back like bailouts etc. Were those funds any institutions savings or tax payers funds given out. These bailouts qualify for the term entitlements if they have really have to use this word in a speech.
Mr. Bowles should just go “frack” himself instead of doing it to all the rest of us. He would enjoy it more.
Under current policies, Social Security is projected to eventually incur a revenue shortfall of 20%. Its Trust Fund will cover the shortfall for the next 25 years, after which the shortfall must be covered by revenue increases and/or cuts to benefits.
What evasive action would you take, if you were told that there’s an obstruction 25 miles down the road? Why the current hand wringing over a possible problem 25 years from now? Somebody is working an agenda in a manner reminiscent of te run-up to our invasion of Iraq.
Just because he’s black dosen’t mean he’s a Democrat!
Parasites serve their purpose, also. Sometimes they coexist with the host and a can even be beneficial. Sometimes they weaken and even kill the host. Sometimes the host kills them.
Let us hope for a favorable outcome to these parasites infecting our society!
there are several possibilities. I can see them using the US in negotiations to secure their positions within a ascendant china for this century. Of course, China may have to get a little less totalitarian and more “rule of law”. Then it will be rather safe for the motu’s to establish their kindoms there an abandon the US, or totally sell it down the river in exchange.
They could also be using this manufactured economic crises, caused by them, to “thin the herd” and make it more suitable to serfdom while securing their legacies for future generations of their parasitical offsrping. They have enough people, it’s resoure that they are concerend with, and too many people. So, thin the herd–worldwide.
Many scenarios.
Ronnie is a LIEbertarian. He loves, loves, loves corporations and rich people. So, don’t get your hopes up too much on this turd.
Probably better to get a reprobate Pres in office and push for a Dimocrat Congress to create the resistance needed to save these programs. Or, let the reprobates have it all and really get the occupy movement rolling and FORCE real change.
I don’t think Barry-0 really cares.